Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-07
NO HAD PAWN"

IL was a 6AOotly picCe III DEOdu daylight,
if the glimmer that stole in through the
dense forest that surrounded it when the
sun was directly overhead deserved this de-
lusive name. At airy other time it was
why, we were afraid even to talk about it !
and as to yenturing within its gloomy
borders, it was currently believed among
as that 10 do so was to bring upon the in
truder certain death. | knew every foot of
ground. wet and dry, within FIVE miles of
my fathers house except this plantation,
for had hunted by day and night every
ield, forest aud marsh within that radius !:
but the swamp and "ma'shes" that sur
rounded this place l had never invaded.
The boldest hunter on the plantation would
call of his dogs and go home if they struck
trail that crossed the sobby boundary line
Of " No Had Pawn"
At length the property had fallen TO one
more gloomy, more strange, and more sin
lister than any one who had gone before
nina man whose personal characteristics
and habits were unique in that country
He was of gigantic stature and superhu-
man strength, and possessed appetites and
vices in proportion to his size. He could
fell an OK with blow of his fist, or in fit
OF anger could tear down the branch of a
tree or bend q bar of iron like reed. He,
either from caprice or ignorance. spoke
only patois not unlike the creole French
OF the Louisiana parishes. But he was a
West Indian. His brutal temper and hab-
Its cut him off from even the small meas
ure of Intercourse which had existed be-
tween his predecessors and their neighbors,
and he lived at No Had Pawn completely
isolated. All the stories and traditions of
the place at Once conferred on him, and fab
ulous tales were told of his proves and of
MS lie. 1t was said, among other things,
that he preserved his wonderful strength
by drinking human blood tale which in
certain sense L have never seen reason to
question. Making all allowances. his life
was blot upon civilization. AT length it
eliminated. A brutal temper, inflamed by
unbridled passions, after a long period of
license and debauchery, came to a climax
IN final orgy of ferocity and fury. in
which he was guilty of an act whose fiend-
ishness surpassed belief, and he was
brought to Judgment.
In modern times the very inhumanity Of
the crime would probably have proved his
security, and as he had destroyed his own
properly while he was perpetrating crime
of appalling and unparalleled horror, he
might have found q defense in that stand
ing refuge Of extraordinary scoundrelism-
insanity. This defense, indeed, was put
IN, ami was pressed with much ability by
his counsel, one of whom was my father
who had just then been admitted to the
bar, but fortunately for the cause of Justice,
neither Courts nor julies were then so
sentimental as they have become of late
years, and the last occupant of No Had
Pawn paid under the law the full penalty
of his hideous crime. 1t was one of the
curious incidents of the trial that his ne
groes all lamented his death, and declared
that he was a good master when he was
not drunk. He was hanged Just at the
rear of his own house, within sight of the
spot where his awful crime was committed.
At his execution, which, according to the
custom of the country, was public, hor-
rible coincidence occurred, which furnished
the text of many a sermon on retributive
justice among the negroes.
The body was inferred near the pond
close by the thicket where the negroes
were buried but the negroes declared that
it preferred one of the stone chambers
under the mansion, where it made its
home, and that it might be seen at any
time of the day or night stalking headless
about the place. They used to dwell with
peculiar zest on the most agonizing details
eliminating in the final act of lnaniacal
fury when the gigantic monster dragged
the hacked and headless corpse of his vic
tim up the staircase and stood it up before
the open window in his hall, in full view
of the terrified slaves. After these nara
tons, the continued temperance of the
murderer and his headless victim was as
natural TO Us as it was to the negroes them
selves; and, as night after night we would
81. Il
darkness. we were ever on the watch lest
he should appear to our frightened vision
from the shades Of the shrubbery filled
yard.
Thus it was of all ghostly places No Haid
Pawn had the satisfaction of being invest
ed, to us, with unparalleled horror, and
thus to US, no less than because the dykes
had given away and the oyerfo wed flats
had turned again to swamp and jungle, it
was explicable that No Had Pawn was
abandoned, and was now untrodden by
any foot but that of its ghostly tenants.
The time of my story was 1856. The
spring previous continuous rains had kept
the river full and had flooded the low
grounds. and this had been followed bv an
exceptionally dense growth in the summer
Then. public feeling was greatly excited at
the time of which | write over the discov-
cry in the neighbOrhood of several ennis
saries of the underground railway, or-as
they were universally considered in that
country-of the devil. They had been run
off or had disappeared suddenly, but had
left behind them some little excitement on
the part OF the slaves and great deal on
the part of their masters, and more than
the usual number of negroes had run
away. All, however, had been caught or
had returned home after a sufficient inter
val of freedom, except one who. had es-
capped permanently and who was supposed
to have accompanied his instigators on
their flight.
This man was well-known character
He belonged TO one of our neighbors, and
had been bought and brought there from
an estate ON the lower Mississippi. He
was the most brutal negro ever knew. He
was of a type rarely found among our
negroes, who, judging from their physi-
ognomy and general characteristics, came
principally from the coast of Africa. They
are of moderate stature, with dull but
amiable faces. This man, however, was OF
immense size, and he possessed the feat
ures and expression of Congo desperate.
In character also he differed essentially
from all the other slaves in our country.
He was alike without their amiability and
their docility, and was as fearless as he was
brutal He was the only negro | ever
knew who was without either superstition
or reverence. Indeed, he differed so widely
from the rest of the slaves in that section
that there existed some feeling against
him almost akiH to a race feeling. At the
same time that he exercised considerable
influence over them, they We're dreadfully
afraid of him. and were always in terror
that he should trick them, to which
awful power he laid well known
claim. His curses in his strange
dialect used to terrify them beyond
measure, and they would do anything tc
conciliate him. He had been 8 continual
source of trouble, and an object of suspi
cion in the neighborhood from the time o.
his first appearance; and more than ons
hoy that the negroes declared bad wan
dered into the marshes of No Haid Pawn
and had "cut his thote JOS swimin' aroun
an aroun' in de ma sl,, had been suspected
of finding its way to this mans cabin. Hi:
master had often been urged to get nd o
him, but he was kept think, probably be
cause he was valuable on the plantation
He was fine butcher, a good work han6
and first-class boatmau. Moreover, our,
was conservative population, in which
every man minded his own business ans
let his neighbor's alone.
At the time of the visits OF those secre
agents to which II have referred, this negr,
1,~os 3;roo~arod ", ho the leader in tho SO